Clinton, Trump Report Largest Fundraising Month Yet

Both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump had their best fundraising months yet in August, with Clinton bringing in $59.5 million and Trump $41 million, according to new Federal Election Commission filings released Tuesday. How they spend their money is vastly different.

Clinton raised more than her Republican rival and she also spent more than him. She spent $49.6 million in August compared to Trump's $29.9 million.

Most of Clinton's spending went to buying television advertising. She spent $33 million on TV ads alone — more than Trump's entire monthly expenditure. Trump, who has been outspent by Clinton on TV five-to-one, only spent $5.2 million on television ads last month.

Trump's largest expenditure was to the firm Giles-Parscale, for digital consulting and online advertising. Trump paid the firm $11 million in August and about $8 million in July, a large sum for the expenditure and more than Clinton spent on the same services during a full year of her campaign.

Another different budget priority between Trump and Clinton: polling. Clinton spent nearly $1 million in August on polling, a feature that helps her to gage public opinion on issues and how she's doing in the race. Trump, who has bragged that he doesn't need pollsters, spent just $128,000 on polling. Although, he did hire Republican pollster Kelleyanne Conway as his chief of staff.

Trump spent far less than previous months on Trump properties, spending just over $21,000 on stays at Trump International in Chicago, Trump Doral in Miami and his Bedminster property in New Jersey. He also paid $320,00 to his airline Tag Air and $169,000 in rent to Trump Tower to house his campaign staff.

Trump continues to pay fired aide Corey Lewandowski. For the second month in a row since his release, Trump paid his former chief-of-staff's consulting firm, Green Monster Consulting, $20,000.

Also on the payroll is Marc Short, the former head of the Charles and David Koch-backed Freedom Partners. Short left the organization earlier this year to help Sen. Marco Rubio in the Republican primary. Short received $15,000 from Trump as a "field consultant" in August.

On the fundraising side, Trump brought in more small-dollar donors than those who gave more than $200, continuing a trend of Trump struggling to attract large donors to his cause. His small donations totaled $12 million, while his larger dollar donors totaled were half that.

Clinton's donor makeup was just the opposite. Only $8.5 million of her campaign's haul came from small dollar donors, while $18 million came people who contributed more than $200.

The fundraising totals are less than the amounts the campaigns announced earlier this month as those sums included money raised for their joint fundraising committees to help their respective parties and down-ticket candidates. Those fundraising numbers won't be released until October.